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On class wars, new and old.

Michael Lind, Professor of Practice at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, joins us to talk about what it might take to restore working class power in Western states. He explains some of the arguments in his book The New Class War (2020) in greater depth, as well as discussing his intellectual debt to the ex-Trotskyist theorist turned Cold War conservative, James Burnham.

Plus, Michael talks about how his Texan background and upbringing shaped his outlook on industrialisation, national development and populism.

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Nimportequi

Lind argues for a benign capitalism where workers are not squeezed and that grows through technological advances. This is not possible because leaps in technology have eliminated at least as many quality jobs as has outsourcing to abroad / overseas. In capitalism, technology is a means of squeezing workers. Secondly, this proposal does not account for the accelerating destruction of the natural base of our civilization inherent to capitalism. I did appreciate Lind’s criticism of credentialism, totally agree with this aspect.

Daniel L

Very interesting interviews, but I'm not convinced by the tripartite idea... The Labor Party, unions and businesses came together in the 80s, and built neoliberalism in Australia... Also, University administrators here are already creating teaching-only positions, and a number of VCs push to have a kind of return to colleges of advanced education on one tier and then universities on the top. But it seems just an attempt to cut wages and conditions further...